Back to my usual time and thankfully the one other person in my 'slow' lane realises he's having to overtake me too frequently and dips under the rope into the medium lane.
Usually it takes me until length 8 to feel like my body has loosened up and started to co-ordinate itself easily. Up until then it's a little like a chore. But by the end of my swims these days days, I've got into my rhythm so well I think I could easily keep going a while longer.
Today length 8 comes and goes with no improvement. There are days like this! Six lengths of breaststroke and six of back stroke, and still my neck feels seized up. It's no good, I've just got to knuckle down and take on front crawl.
Pausing for slightly longer than usual at the end I realise it's going to be length 13. Split second hesitation, realise my slight nerves mean my breathing is never going to be set up for a perfect start, push off.
All I concentrate on is keeping going slowly and steadily and breathing on every fourth stroke, bubbling out the air in a steady stream in between. Deliberately chose to go from deep end to shallow this time to avoid any mid length freaking out. Have to encourage myself with 'I can do it, I'm going to do it' thoughts from about 2/3rds of the way along. And it works! The whole length - smoothly, without panic, without excessive gasping.
And now my body's warmed up properly!
So next time it's feeling un-inclined to get going I think I'm just going to get sterner with it sooner rather than pander to it! It can have 6 lengths max of 'ooh, this is hard work' and then I'm going to start pushing it a bit harder.
Makes me wonder if FRED's coaches sometimes have to get stern with our learners? A delicate balancing act I should think, sensing what level of stern will produce achievement and what will be so much as to cause de-motivation & a debilitating sense of failure.
Everything smoothed out, a glow of achievement & I settle easily into the remaining lengths. And yes, if they hadn't kicked me out I could have gone on for......
Yesterday, I read that an Amateur Swimming Association survey found 51% of 7-11 year olds are unable to swim; only 2% of primary schools reach government targets of providing 22 hours of swimming lessons a year (the average being 8). According to RoSPA many parents think their children can swim when they can do barely more than float.
The surface argument of this is 'tut, tut, schools are failing'. But it is so much more complex, isn't it? Swimming pools close, or are unavailable locally so it is more expensive for schools to transport pupils, especially at a time when the price of everything else goes up and budgets are cut. Travelling to & from also takes time away from of the rest of the curriculum, against which teachers and pupils seem to be constantly tested. And always there are demands for yet more to be stuffed into that curriculum (creative activities, learning to cook, reading for pleasure, more science....).
As with many things (reading, cooking, exercise generally) attitudes in the home have a huge influence. Once again I was the lucky lucky one. In my very early years my parents took all six of us weekly to Derby Swimming Baths, such an importance did they place on it, even though my mum couldn't swim and my dad didn't really like it.
And then our forward looking primary school raised money to build a small teaching pool of its own. My eldest sister swam in the opening ceremony. My mum helped with swimming lessons. A little later still, the secondary school in the village built a large state of the art (for then) public swimming pool. So lauded was it locally that 'celebrities' came to swim there. My eldest sister's claim to fame for many years was that she'd been accidentally kicked by Brian Clough in that pool (I discovered only the other day that this pool of my childhood is no longer there).
So we had a system of naturally progressing support with our swimming as with our reading, thanks both to our parents and to publicly available facilities (we also regularly visited the village library).
Some, though not all, of FRED's learners have not had support systems at home to assist with their early reading.
Despite the 'Literacy Hour', not all schools have libraries (I was very very impressed to see mention of a librarian on the staff at Forest View school in Cinderford the other day!). In fact I'm told some secondary schools have closed their libraries completely. And it is quite common for school library staff to have no library qualifications at all, because it is so often seen as a purely administrative function.
There are many tales of people from many backgrounds including those just described, finding their own support systems via public libraries. Many people who would not have been able to grow into who they are today and perhaps more importantly, contribute to society in the way they do today, if it had not been for the availability and accessibility of their public library service. And in this day & age that can also means access to the information and services available via the internet.
One (and I stress it was only one) of the reasons I took redundancy when I did was because I lost faith in my employer. We knew cuts were coming, we agreed they were inevitable, we even knew they were likely to be huge.
When they proposed the closure of Cinderford Library it was a cut too far for me. The community worked hard and secured its future and these days I hear its usage figures are increasing.
But today I signed a petition against cuts in Herefordshire Libraries. They propose to cut all but one library in the whole of that huge county.
I could cry (again).
But better than you crying, perhaps you'd consider sending a donation to help FRED continue its existence as a support service. Send donations to:
Frank Rainer, Treasurer, Oaklands, George Road, Yorkley, Lydney, Gloucestershire, GL15 4TL
- cheques should be made out to Forest Read Easy Deal.
Thank you.
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